How much longer???

Harper at 15 months!!

I had my second Dr. appointment this morning since I have been in KC. I am going to be 33 weeks along tomorrow which means I have another........6 weeks to go! AHHHHH it seems like an eternity! I am not sure my body can handle another month and a half of this baby boy doing his damage. My boobs are huge and resting upon my gigantic belly, I have a cankle on my right leg (due to a sprain not pregnancy), my belly button is literally non existant...its not an innie or an outie, it has become one with the rest of my stomach and is flush against the skin. I am pretty sure we have created a karate kid with the jabs, kicks, and nudges I have been receiving all day and night with this little guy. Harper was breech for so long that she only was able to kick me in certain spots but this guy he likes to stretch out and crazy kick all over my insides. I can even feel him pushing on the sides of my body which is oh so bizarre. Now don't get me wrong I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to meet my little Paxton and I want him to take all the time that he needs to get strong and healthy so he is ready to meet the world but boy oh boy am I ready to hold him in my arms and get him out of my belly!!

At my appointment I mentioned that I thought he was a big guy and when the doctor measured my belly she said that he was measuring a few weeks ahead of my due date. If he measures the same way at my next appointment then we will most likely have to go in for an ultrasound to check and see if we need to get him out earlier than expected. So far he is going to be here sometime around the week of the 26th-30th! My little holiday baby boy =). I am a December baby as well so he will NEVER EVER receive a joint gift combining Christmas and his birthday. Oh no he will get the same treatment as if he had a summer birthday and will get a whole day of celebration for the beautiful person that he is!

We had a baby shower this past weekend and it is all starting to settle in that I am going to have another teeny tiny newborn again. Opening gifts of these little bitty newborn onesies, socks & diapers just makes me so excited to have a little cuddly baby around. Harper is definitely too much of a busy bee to really stop and cuddle with me as much as I would like. But she is just SO fun that I don't even want to stop her crazy running around because she is just hilarious! She is really starting to talk A LOT...... some random jibberish but surprisingly many real words. Her being able to communicate with us helps her to not get so frustrated when she wants something! As much as I can get frustrated with our pets these days (barking during nap times, teaching her that it is fun when she drops her dinner on the floor so they can eat it, and trying to steal her stuffed animals as toys of their own) I don't know what she would do with out them! They are pretty much the excitement of her days, besides when dada comes home. When she wakes up in the morning one of the first things she says is "kitty cat?" and looks around for him because he is usually waiting near her door to join in with waking her up. She follows Zoey our dog around all day long poking her and petting her probably more than she would like! She is such a fun little girl and I cannot wait to see what Paxton is going to be like. Maybe this time a little bit of me will rub off on him because Harper is 100% Josh from her looks to her personality....but that's okay because I kind of think he is the greatest anyway. =)

Hope everyone has a great week & I will give an update when we figure out the day of my c-section! =)

Home Sweet Home

So this is the new place!!! I have not blogged in quite sometime due to the craziness of being now almost 32 weeks pregnant and running around chasing my crazy mobile toddler. Oh, and the fact that I was packing packing and packing for a few weeks to prepare ourselves for our move to a new home, in a new town and even in a new state!! Yes I said state! If you know me you are probably thinking, yeah right she would never move away from good ol' OK. But yes in deed my friends, I am now a permanent resident of Overland Park, Kansas.

Josh had a new job opportunity arise that would allow him to get out of retail!! No more weekends, no more night time closing shifts, AND HOLIDAYS OFF?!?!?! I am not even sure what to make of that one yet. I was fortunate enough to have my first retail free holiday season last year but it was not the same with Josh still participating. Yet now we both get to sit back, relax, and enjoy 4 days off during Thanksgiving and a nice 3 day weekend for Christmas!! As long as everything continues to go smooth with my pregnancy then we plan to pack up the family and celebrate Thanksgiving in Oklahoma with our families. However since baby boy is due only 10 days after Christmas we will be staying here and having a small Pluid family of 3 celebration. Just a few days after Christmas we will be lucky enough to see all the family we missed because baby boy Paxton will be joining us and everyone will come up our way (so everyone keep your fingers crossed that the weather treats us nice so our Okie family can drive up here!!)

So far our transition with our new town and our new home has been pretty much seamless. We enjoyed our short 9 months in Duncan, OK and the biggest reason I was sad to go was the fact that I got to see one of my best friends Katie and Harper's BFF Keller, every single day. Not many people get the joy of living so close to a friend and having their kids get to play and love each other! Katie has been a true blessing in my life. She will know things about me that no one will ever know or understand. She has been there for me through some of the most difficult times as well. The day I went to say goodbye to them was definitely the most emotional time I had. BUT, I am now looking forward to having "girls weekends" and meeting up with her with no kids and having a great excuse to shop, pamper and catch up!! =)

So the fun part about being in our new town is that we definitely feel as if it is a perfect fit for our personalities. Josh and I love to go out and try new restaurants and get involved with fun community events. Overland Park has so much to offer with festivities and fun kids events and the simple fact that I could literally walk to Target from my house makes me such a happy girl!! I am pretty sure I have made up for not living in a town with a Target in just the few weeks I have been here. We absolutely love our new neighborhood which has lots of families and young kids. We were drawn to this area because of some friends we knew and worked with in Oklahoma that moved here a few years ago and raved about how much they loved the neighborhood & all their neighbors. I can literally walk to the elementary school, the park, and the pool from my house! We are definitely going to get use out of our little red wagon this next summer.

Well that is all the rambling I am going to do today. I will post more house pictures as I get the rooms all completed and pretty =). I'm trying to get that done as quickly as possible so I can have a few weeks of relaxing before baby boy arrives! Ahhhhh I can't wait to meet him!

The human garbage disposal

24 weeks of growing Paxton Pluid...

Harper is napping away and I was a bit bored and tired of constantly cleaning the house so I decided to take a few photos of the grooooooowing belly of mine! I have not done a great job of documenting as I did round #1. I of course feel HUGE, but when I look back on facebook around the same time I am pretty much the same size which makes me feel a whole lot better =).

I am finally in the state of pregnancy where I do have energy and feel pretty darn good. I have my bouts of emotions here and there and I am definitely becoming a human garbage disposal. This past weekend was basically equivalent to Christmas for my husband because football has begun. I could honestly care less about the game but it is a fantastic excuse for me to bust out the junk food and binge eat because that is what you do when football is on.....right? Yesterday morning I wanted to run to the store to grab a single can of pumpkin because I found a recipe on Pinterest to make homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte's! In this tiny town of Duncanville we unfortunately do not have a Starbucks and so I wanted to make the little fall time treat at home =). Well $80 later lets just say we had enough food to feed ourselves for an entire week...yet I was planning to eat it all in a day!

My meal plan yesterday consisted of:

Breakfast:

A giant cinnamon roll (shared with Harper & Hubby of course!)

Biscuits and gravy

Lunch:

An entire Totino's pizza

Snack:

Yogurt pretzels

Dinner

Ham & Beans with Cheesy Beer Bread

Dessert:

Pecans Pralines and Cream Ice Cream

HOLY MOLY did I really just admit that to you guys?

Well lets just say that I enjoyed every delicious and unhealthy bite of it and did my best to not watch any football =). Paxton seemed to enjoy it as well because he was moving like crazy last night! We were able to see the movements going on in my belly instead of just feeling them, pretty crazy! The best part about the whole shopping trip to the store was that I ran into my pregnancy baby doctor so she was witness to my unhealthy eating habits. Hopefully she does not think that is what my daily food intake is like!

p.s. I just realized that I have gone 24 weeks of being pregnant with out eating a single Oreo. What is wrong with me?!

Holy cow I am raising a GIRL!!!!!

Do not allow this cheesy smiling, tomboy acting, spitting image of her daddy fool you. She is indeed a girl! Today has definitely caused me to realize that I am headed down a road full of unbalanced emotions, tears, and craziness! Yesterday we had such a fun day filled with laughs, smiles, happy baby moments.....today on the other hand is as if a switch has been flipped and the evil emotional Harper has risen. Goodness gracious the tears are coming from literally NOWHERE! I can not leave her side for more than 2.5 seconds without an emotional breakdown coming out of this super cute little 21 pound being. Now its not the cuddling kind of day where she doesn't feel good and wants to be sweet. It is the crazy kind of sad that reminds me that the teenage years are going to be looooooooong! All that being said she is still of course the cutest little thing ever and when I do get those brief moments of smiling or laughter when tickling her it makes all the craziness okay. But just for the record... women are crazy! =).

Well gotta go, the monster has woken 45 minutes early from her nap =).

Change

Change in all things is sweet
- Aristotle

Over the 3 years of marriage and 4 years of being together, Josh and I have endured a lot of change. Some expected, some unexpected, some wanted, and some unwanted. However, through all the change it has brought us together and stronger and more in love. Although change is inevitable in everyone's lives it is really how you adapt and react to it that creates who you are. I tend to think of myself as open minded and ready to take on new adventures. Yet, I am not as quick to adapt as I would probably tell you I am. I do take time to get used to the ideas of something new (especially if it is unexpected) but altogether I always look for the positive side of things!

One of the biggest changes I had to adapt to was realizing that I was going to be a stay at home mom. This was a decision that Josh and I came to together and I am ever so grateful that I have had this opportunity. However, it was a very difficult adjustment to me. I had my first official job when I was 15 years old, worked throughout college to pay for my bills & started a career immediately after graduation. Working was something I knew, something I was good at, and something that I felt defined who I was. 99% of my friends who were already moms were in fact stay at home moms. I will admit that I was judgmental to the point of not understanding why some of them had house cleaners or went out and shopped like crazy when they were not bringing in a paycheck. A huge part of this was ignorance on my part because I obviously did not know what it was like to take care of a newborn. I also did not think about how not everyone has "a perfect baby" who sleeps on a schedule, is never sick, and does as they are told! I never realized the time and patience it was going to take to raise a little one...especially the patience it took to raise a little one who had acid reflux! Anyway, I am getting off track a bit but my point is that being a mom is a difficult job, but at the same time a very easy job. I get the chance to teach her things, I get to be the one to comfort her when she falls, I get to be the one who dances around the living room being extra silly and making her full bellied laugh all day long.

Now if you ask me if I miss my job the answer would be yes. Some of you may be surprised by this answer because my particular job I was not in love with. I did however love being responsible for projects and teaching people how to complete tasks or how to become stronger in the business world. I did obviously love bringing home a paycheck and being an equal contributor in the household. I did love all the relationships and friendships I created with those I worked with. Those are the things I miss but I would not give up one second of the time or the days that I have spent with Harper over the past year.

The other change that has been difficult for me to adjust to is the fact that in 8 days my little girl will be one year old. ONE YEAR OLD? How in the world did that happen?! She has gone from this helpless little bundle of 7lb7oz 19 1/2 in. long who could not even hold her head up to this 20lb 27 in long giant personality. She has opinions and thoughts (although they are simple) and she has the ability to melt hearts! I am so amazed that an entire year has passed by but I am so proud of the little girl she is and I think that Josh and I have done an absolutely phenomenal job raising her thus far. I can only imagine how much faster things will go when little Paxton arrives to add to the craziness. I will make sure to stop and cuddle him every moment I can because once they become mobile, the cuddling stops! I know it will come back some day with Harper but we find ourselves cherishing the sick days when she lays her head on our shoulders and is a bit more needy.

Last but not least the change that has gone along with my 3 years of marriage has been the best change of all. From my very few first initial interactions with Josh, I knew my life would be ever changed by him. There was something different about him and something different about myself with him. He made me more bold, more confident, and more in love than I had ever imagined. As each experience has been thrown our way with change, it truly has only made our marriage better. I am not saying things have always been perfect or that we have never had our down times. What I am saying is that we really do grow together more when we face a hard situation and realize that sometimes we are the only things we have to lean on to get through a rough patch. I am thankful to have him as my husband and partner. I am excited for the future change we will experience together. I am excited to teach our children to embrace the unknown and sometimes there really is a silver lining in those dark cloudy days. My life is not perfect but I know that I have all I need to keep going with a smile on my face!

Speaking of change, little Paxton is now big enough where I can feel him kicking in my belly. Oh what a good feeling it is! =)

Update on the Pluids

In 13 days our little girl is going to be ONE YEAR OLD!! I just can not believe how fun and crazy and unexpected the whole experience of being a parent has been. If you have read my blog posts before you will know that it has not necessarily been the easiest journey but it has by far been the most wonderful thing I have ever done! I have a fun party planned on the Sunday before her birthday to celebrate with our family and and a few close friends and am hoping that she will have fun and not be too overwhelmed by the madness! I will take lots of pictures and share the day of the event after it passes =).

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and we have recently found out that we are HAVING A BOY!!! I thought Josh's jaw was going to hit the floor he was so shocked! I can not believe that we are lucky enough to have one boy and one girl! I am due January 4th but since I had a c-section with Harper, I will be having another one with baby boy Pluid and will most likely have him right after Christmas around the 27th or 28th. Kind of a crummy birthday but I am very excited to be big and pregnant during the fall/winter with boots and leggings and sweaters instead of in this ridiculous heat. Plus I will not feel guilty (as if I do anyway) stuffing my 8/9 month pregnant self with all the yummy holiday food!!! Josh and I have been having a difficult time deciding on a name for this little boy! I had about a million girls names that I had on a list but for some reason boys names are not peaking my interest as much. The name that we both like the most is Paxton Joshua Pluid. I like the alliteration of the P's. Paxton Pluid....cute huh?

I can not believe I am only 2 weeks away from being 1/2 way finished with being pregnancy. Yet this go around has been much harder on my body. I have gotten sick 3 times from strep throat, colds, throwing my back out, etc. which is very uncommon for me. I am never ever sick! The past few days I was having terrible stomach issues but fortunately today I feel back to normal....yet Harper is now sick with the sneezes & snots! It's always something isn't it?

Lastly I will give an update as to what Harper is up to these days. Mostly for my benefit so I can remember since I am oh so good at updating my blogs hehe =)

*Last doctors visit she weighed 20lbs 7oz and was 27" tall
*Loooooooooves books.
*She now hands things to us and gets great joy out of it, unless its something she really wants and then she plays a sneaky game where she holds it out and then snatches it back as I go to grab it.....she thinks shes pretty funny.
*Plays peek-a-boo by bobbing up and down or hiding under her blanket
*Starting to put together words that we can understand such as: bye bye, baaa (sheep sound), bow wow wow (dog sound), night night, mama, dada, nana (banana), wuv woo (love you), hahahaha (mocks my laughing) & screeches with joy anytime she sees a picture or actual animal.
*She can point to when I ask her where it is: her belly, foot, leg, head, closes her eyes, heart and on occasion her ear, and waves byebye.
*She is obsessed with this Step 2 kitchen my dad & stepmom gave her and plays in that all the time
*She loves it when we chase after her to tickle her and she tries to scurry away
*Cruises all over everything & crawls like a mad woman. She has not had much interest in walking since she has become so confident in crawling
*Eats just about anything & everything

Well that is about it for now. I am sure there is much more but I won't make this post any longer than it already is!

3 years of wedded bliss

On our 3 year anniversary at The Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast!

I had the pleasure of planning Josh & I's anniversary fun this year. Usually he is the one that comes up wit a plan or surprise but I asked to take over this year and I feel as if it was a success! We wanted to do something fun & simple so I asked my mom to watch our sweet little Harper for the night and booked us a room at the Arcadian Inn Bed & Breakfast. Neither of us had stayed at a bed & breakfast before so it was a fun new adventure! When we arrived to check in they had a chalkboard out front welcoming us with our names on it. Then we went to check out our room and it was so pretty & quaint. We got dressed & ready for our dinner reservations I made for us at Signature Grill. We had been there one time before and it was such an unbelievably yummy experience! It is definitely a special occasion type of restaurant with the prices but for foodies like us, it is well worth the money! We sat and talked at dinner for quite some time so we ended up calling it a night after we ate. The next morning the owners of the Inn brought in the most delightful breakfast ever!!

I had one more surprise planned for us & had a couples massage scheduled to come and give us the massages in our room at the Inn! It was a perfect way to end our small getaway celebration!